Memo: Initial reports of oil spill in Southern California came earlier
HUNTINGTON BEACH » The Coast Guard received multiple reports of a possible fuel spill off the Southern California coast earlier than previously disclosed and asked local authorities to investigate about 15 hours before its own personnel confirmed a large oil slick, which came from a leaking undersea pipeline, records show.
The initial reports of a possible spill north of the Huntington Beach pier came into the Coast Guard about 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 1, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s memo provided Wednesday to The Associated Press. The document said there were multiple similar calls over a marine radio emergency channel from boats leaving the Huntington Beach air show.
The department, which runs the county’s harbor patrol, was contacted by the Coast Guard and sent a fireboat to search for the spill but the crew lost visibility as darkness fell, according to the memo obtained through the California Public Records Act. The spill wasn’t confirmed until about 9 a.m. Saturday.
The memo, sent Oct. 3 to harbormaster and sheriff’s Capt. Gary Lewellyn, raises additional questions about the Coast Guard’s initial response to a spill that forced the closure of some of the region’s signature beaches and fisheries, and harmed animal and plant life.
Coast Guard Lt. Commander Jeannie Shaye confirmed Thursday that multiple calls came in over the emergency channel but said her agency has no knowledge of a fireboat going out to check for a spill that Friday. She said at about 6:30 p.m. the Coast Guard made contact with an anchored commercial vessel that had reported a possible spill and asked the crew to make a report to the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of emergencies for quick response.
About a half-hour later the Coast Guard began working with state and local agencies to assess the situation, Shaye said. By then, it was getting dark and they decided not to go out due to safety and visibility concerns, she said.
Shaye said Coast Guard personnel went out on the water Saturday morning and confirmed the spill.
The sheriff’s department did not immediately return calls seeking comment about its memo and the agency’s interactions with the Coast Guard after initial reports came in.
Miyoko Sakashita, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Coast Guard should have responded more aggressively after getting the first reports.
“An investigation should have immediately taken place, and it could have significantly reduced the size of the spill,” said Sakashita, whose organization has called on the federal government to stop offshore oil drilling. “Among all those reports, you should be able to triangulate that there’s something that needs investigation immediately.”
Prior to release of the sheriff’s department memo it was thought that first word of a possible spill came to the Coast Guard at 6:13 p.m. on Oct. 1 from a foreign-flagged commercial ship anchored off Huntington Beach. The ship reported a sheen on the water that was more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long.
But it wasn’t until 8:22 p.m. that the report was called into the National Response Center by Colonial Compliance Systems Inc., which works with foreign ships in U.S. waters to report spills, according to reports compiled by the California Office of Emergency Services.